What's your job about?
Eagle Technology distributes and supports Esri ArcGIS and related technologies in New Zealand. My responsibilities include supporting users in using the technology and creating content that they can use to support their work.
My daily work includes communicating with customers and trying to recreate issues they come across. Every day is different for me in terms of what I will have to deal with. This means I can use and build my knowledge across the entire ArcGIS platform as no customer has the same workflows/use cases. I spend part of my day working on content projects such as creating base maps and working with different customers on environmental/cultural projects.
What's your background?
I grew up in Whanganui and attended Whanganui High School where I had great opportunities like going on an exchange to Tahiti and going on a 2-week trip around the South Island for Year 12 Geography. This experience further deepened my love of Geography. Geography was by far my favourite subject at High School and this passion further grew when I attended Otago University and was able to study many different geographical topics. In my final year of my Geography degree, I panicked about entering the real world and decided to further my studies by going back to university and study GIS as a minor. After my extra year at university, I found myself back home and jobless as the world entered the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, I applied for one job, a role I found on my university’s careers hub – the GIS Internship at Eagle Technology. I didn’t think I’d get it; I was a good student, but I didn’t get straight A’s, I had no previous work experience, and I didn’t feel confident in my abilities. I was invited to attend a virtual interview and ended up being offered one of the positions – I was later told that I was the most passionate person they interviewed. I have now been at Eagle Technology since July 2020. After completing my 6-month internship I was offered a full-time role in the Eagle Technology GIS Support team.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, I believe someone with a different background could do my job. However, having a background in GIS, geography, or computer science would be advantageous. My role requires me to be an expert in geospatial technology so having a desire to learn is key - and it's a lot easier to learn if you are interested in what you're doing. If you have good customer service skills, are a good communicator, enjoy problem-solving and can research, you are on the path to succeed
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love interacting with customers, solving the puzzle of the issue at hand, and seeing first-hand how organisations from all around New Zealand are using geospatial technology to see what others can’t. We get direct feedback from customers when we close a case, and it is really fulfilling to know that my efforts positively impact them.
What are the limitations of your job?
Just like with any job, you're not going to be an expert overnight; nor can you be an expert in everything, so when a problem comes up which I'm not qualified to solve, this can be discouraging and sometimes leaves me feeling like I might be letting our customers down. However, I do have an awesome team to lean on and learn from.
Also, due to the nature of the role, customers often come to us when they have hit a wall and are not able to solve a problem themselves, and because of this, they can often be stressed and pass this stress onto you. So, staying positive and celebrating success becomes all the more important!
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